01/2019
01/2019
08/2018
Lyonesse. Film project in progress. 2025-2026
'Lyonesse' is an experimental 20-25 minute film that explores the British Isles’ history as a spiritual landscape and its relationship to the climate crisis we currently face; specifically, rising sea levels.
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Using the myth of Lyonesse as a thematic backdrop, the film will explore whether our spiritual heritage has a part to play in shaping our current climate emergency, whilst also examining what answers spirituality, in its various forms, can provide in the face of such an existential threat. Ultimately, the aim of the film is to encourage engagement and preservation of the history and beauty of our natural and cultural landscape in the face of climate change.
The film is currently a work in progress, with an expected completion date scheduled for summer 2026. The project has thus far been made possible as a result of a crowdfunding campaign. Please find the project details below, along with a link to the Crowdfunder, in case you wish to support the project.
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The film​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
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This story will be told primarily through the lens of various landmarks and structures throughout the UK, drawing a visual and symbolic parallel between those built for worship and those constructed as protection from water.
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The film is a visual journey through the British Isles’ many landscapes - moorlands, forests, mountains - capturing the evolution of sacred sights from neolithic cave art, mountain cairns, megaliths and stone rows to early monastic chapels and contemporary multi-faith sites. Simultaneously to this, the film will explore the river and coastal communities most affected by climate change today, from the Somerset Levels and Gloucestershire flood plains to the coastlines of Happisburgh and Whitby to the Thames barrier.
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Archive footage sourced from various regional archives across the UK will be curated into the film’s structure. This material will not only serve to bridge the multiple timelines together but further root this story within Britain’s cultural history.
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Shot using a combination of 16mm film and digital mediums, the film will be absent of language, instead relying wholly on the relationship between images and sound, creating a film that is as purely cinematic and accessible as possible.
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Finally, to bring this all together, the film will feature a new score by previous collaborator Amy Lawrence aka The Worm, whose unique approach to music making will guide the audience beyond the limitations of the film’s images.
The myth
Lyonesse is the name given to England's very own flood myth. It is the story of a once great kingdom that was flooded by God as a consequence for its hubris. Similar myths can be found across many cultures, believed to have collectively originated from a time when sea levels were much lower.
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Today, sea levels are continuing to rise at an increasing rate, though instead of a dramatic single wave, it is a gradual yet progressive flood. Globally, it will have widespread effects, resulting in mass migration and famine. Here in the UK, many of the villages, towns, and cities that occupy our coastlines and riversides will be destroyed, and our landscape forever altered. Unless immediate and global action towards combating the climate emergency is implemented, then this collective fate will be unavoidable.
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If science measures change and stories personify it, that makes myths like Lyonesse as relevant today as they were at the time of their creation, especially when such a myth becomes prophecy.
